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Mince-meat

A preserved beef mixture with suet, raisins, currants, citron, apples, spices, and sweeteners, boiled and packed in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Mince-meat

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince-meat

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beef

  1. Boil the beef in enough water to cover it, skimming off the scum as it rises.

  2. Add hot water as needed until the beef is tender, then remove the lid and add salt.

  3. Boil until almost dry, turning the meat occasionally, then let it cool overnight.

  4. Pick out bones, gristle, and stringy bits from the meat and chop it finely.

Mix the filling

  1. Mince the beef suet and combine it with the chopped meat in a large pan.

  2. Seed and cut the raisins, wash and dry the currants, slice the citron, and chop the apples.

  3. Add the raisins, currants, citron, apples, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmegs, lemon juice and rind, salt, pepper, and sugar to the pan.

  4. In a porcelain kettle, combine the boiled cider (or juice), molasses (or syrup), and butter, and bring to a boil.

  5. Pour the boiling mixture over the ingredients in the pan and mix thoroughly.

Jar and store

  1. Pack the mixture into jars and store in a cool place.

  2. Once cold, pour a layer of molasses over the top and cover tightly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the savoury meaty base that the filling is built around.
Beef suet
Adds richness and fat, giving the mixture a moist, rounded texture.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
Apples
Add tartness and moisture that balance the sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Molasses
Adds depth, dark colour and sweetness, and helps preserve the filling.

The step that matters

Boil the beef until almost dry. Cooking the meat until nearly all its liquid evaporates concentrates its flavour and keeps the finished mince from being watery, which would encourage spoilage in storage.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, raisin, apple, cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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